Mini-camera update…blue tit eggs!

Last week we reported that there were signs of activity in our bluetit nesting box, with the camera clearly showing some serious nest-building and a couple of eggs. This week, to our great excitement, TEN eggs have been spotted, and the mother bird has been sitting on them to keep them warm. The male bird has been bringing her titbits into the nest (pictured below) and is protecting the area around the box from other birds, in order to ensure that the nearby food supply is available for his family once they have hatched!

Did you know…?
It is a hard job being a blue tit parent! Blue tits lay 8-10 eggs at the rate of one a day. They are white with reddish-brown speckling. The mother bird only starts sitting on them (this is called ‘incubation’) when the clutch is almost complete. She usually covers the eggs with some nest lining if she has to leave them for a while, and this is what we saw happening last week. Now they are all laid it will be two or three weeks before the chicks hatch and then both parents will be very busy collecting enough worms and caterpillars to feed them until they are ready to leave the nest two or three weeks later.